Nigerians ill-equipped to face Boko Haram
Fox News reports that their sister network, Sky News, interviewed a Nigerian soldier who claims that his brothers-in-arms are ill-prepared to do battle with the al Qaeda-linked Boko Haram. The terrorists are blamed in the kidnapping of nearly 300 teenage girls recently;
He spoke to us on condition of anonymity: “If my superiors know I have spoken to you, I will be jailed and tortured.”
But he described an army which is haemorrhaging morale and which lacks the will or the means to take on the terrorists.
He said his views reflected the feelings felt throughout the army about the war on terror in Nigeria’s northeast.
“They give us just AK47s to go into the bush to fight Boko Haram,” he told us.
“Our equipment doesn’t work and they give us just two magazines (60 bullets) to go into the bush.”
He went on to say many soldiers were complaining about not receiving their allowances and being made to wait weeks, sometimes months, for salaries to be paid.
I’m guessing that few of the Nigerian troops have Twitter or Facebook accounts with which they can harangue the terrorists in the #hashtag warfare that seems to be the only effective weapon left to the Western world. Maybe the First Lady and some of the Hollywood types can send them iPhones.
But seriously, The Washington Times reports that the US has added one additional drone to the search bringing the total to two.
Recent days saw Pentagon officials fly an unmanned Global Hawk surveillance drone, as well as a manned MC-12 turboprop aircraft, over Nigeria to collect intelligence for the mission. Defense officials said Friday that they will pull the manned aircraft out of the sky next week for maintenance and replace it with another unarmed drone — either an additional Global Hawk or, possibly, an MQ-1 Predator.
Category: Terror War
It’s hard to say what to do in this situation. As far as I can tell, a large scale deployment would be a poorly executed botch as we’ve come to expect of this administration, as well as a bit of a waste of money.
However, ignoring it means that AQ just gets stronger. Given that the local military is nowhere near ready to fight, it only makes the situation worse.
If we deployed Special Forces or used drones with absolute operator discretion, I could see this problem being solved quickly. But I’m just an armchair general who hasn’t been tracking this situation that intently.
If they need money for equipment and salaries; I have it on good authority that there are millions of dollars sitting in Nigerian banks waiting for me to send a couple thousand dollars to get $millions released to me. We can cut out the middle man and I can hve the Nigerian troops just go in and claim the money for me and use it as they see fit! T
There, problem solved.
Danmmit Trooper, you stole my thought. Oh well, you said better than I would have. Well done my friend. Well done.
Danmmit Trooper, you stole my thought. Oh well, you said better than I would have. Well done my friend. Well done.
I’m waiting on the Duffel Blog for the article about the legions of has tag warriors that have been deployed to Nigeria to aid in the rescue attempts.
The girls were abducted more than a month ago. The president (or whatever he’s called) promised to do everything he could to get the girls back. So, are the back? No. What has he done? Asked for money and things that no Nigerian could probably operate. Five will get you ten that the men guarding him have plenty of firepower, bullets, and are paid on a tight schedule. As for the other guys, the ones in the bush who aren’t looking for the girls and who do shoot at their own commander, morale couldn’t be higher. The evidence of that? “If my superiors know I have spoken to you, I will be jailed and tortured.”
Two points. One, when the Obamas’ Mr. and Mrs. tell me what they are doing about the thousands of American kids, many, girls sold into sex slavery abroad, kidnapped every year by other than family members, then I’ll feel a little more sympathy for what’s happening in Nigeria. If any other President, other than Obama was behind this Nigerian endeavor (God only knows what HIS and HIS administrations ideas of success here are.) I would feel much better about it. But given it IS Obama and his dumb ass administration, all I see are very restricted ROE, lack of doing it the right way from the outset and body bags coming home. I say that’s a bad play on our part. Doing it Obama’s way and I guarantee the girls will be dead before we are close enough to fire a shot. Second point. Why is it that every time I see one of these “issues” from around the world to compel the American liberals to spend money and the LIVES of others (but not them of course), in some far away shit hole…all the appealing sympathy signs are always in perfect English? Now maybe this is a bunch of stateside Nigerians protesting in NYC for all I know. It’s just that is harkens back to our bombing of Baghdad and the resulting signs, for the media, on a burned out building reading, “Baby Milk Factory” again, in perfect English. So if this sign is indeed from Nigeria, someone’s giving them some public relations money for the cause anyway. I do not want to sound indifferent to the plight in Nigeria. I feel for the girls kidnapped and the people at large. But when the military is in the condition it is in, years of American training and equipment will not bring them up to speed to handle the task. They are for all intents and purposes scared to fight and scared to speak. How do you change all that? Their leadership all the way to the President, Goodluck Jonathan, are as corrupt as the Mexican government’s police and Army… Read more »
I just did a check on line and yes those photos are from Nigerian cities. Our high school kids in America should be able to make signs in English so well. /sarc/
Just did a check on Wikipedia (so you KNOW it’s correct.) Apparently English is the official language of Nigeria.
OLDAV8R…Then I apologize to the Nigerians for my comment. I learn something very day…if I pay attention.
Yeah, because it was a British colony until not very long ago. I don’t know how prevalent English actually is there. It could be it’s a lingua franca among lots of different groups with lots of different languages packed into one country like it is in India, or it could be like Belize (formerly British Honduras) where English is the official language, but nobody actually uses it (they all speak Spanish).
Nigeria… OPEC member with unpaved roads in its capital, a military in name only and the “Nigerian banking scam” as its greatest accomplishment.
I used to work with a guy who emigrated to the US from Nigeria, and later became a US citizen. He still had family there, and on rare occasions years ago he’d visit.
Let’s just say the stories about endemic graft and corruption you hear appear to be true.
Awesome Shit My Drill Sergeant Said (https://www.facebook.com/ASMDSS) had a great picture:
Nigeria is a shithole. Its people speak more than 500 languages, and its major industries appear to be rape, murder, AIDS/HIV transfer, baby making, and child abuse. Aside from those things, it’s probably a nice place.
2/17 Air Cav…I see we are reading from the same travel brochure.
“He went on to say many soldiers were complaining about not receiving their allowances and being made to wait weeks, sometimes months, for salaries to be paid.”
Sounds like the same folks who are running our VA.
I’d still like to see as much press and effort paid towards our missing/kidnapped/exploited children as what is being paid towards those in Nigeria. But what do I know???
well, Yahoo has an article about a band of about 300 traditional Nigerian hunters who want to track down Boku Haram http://news.yahoo.com/traditional-nigerian-hunters-want-girls-154522265.html
I would say judging by all the muzzle-loaders and bows in the article’s pictures, they are probably going to be ‘way more effective than Nigeria’s regular army.
That’s where the Operation American Spring guys went…
Funny!
In seriousness – I see a lot of the the tricked-out black gun types young or old at the range – mostly they can’t shoot for shit. They deck all their rails with tons of attachments, then sit on the 25 and 50 yard lines punching groups that look more like shotgun patterns. Guys who can make it as hunters using just bows or muzzle-loaders are probably a hell of a lot better in the woods and better shots…. pretty cocky taking them up against AKs and RPKs though.
Well they better hurry up and figure it out. Evil is at their doorstep. That should be all that is needed for the “will”.
I’ll preface my comment by saying the kidnapping of these girls is a terrible thing.
However …
… I’d like to know, since it’s Muslims that have kidnapped the girls, when Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Dubai, Qatar, Malaysia or any of the rest of the Muslim countries will be sending their troops in to Nigeria.
We spend literally billions of dollars every year on these alleged allies. More if you count oil and tourism revenue. When are they going to step up to toe the line against extremists? When are they going to put their soldiers in harms way for the greater good?
Get back to me when that happens.
Remember this story? Two days ago marked the two-month anniversary of the kidnapping. It was celebrated with the kidnapping of 20 women from somewhere in Nigeria. So much for hashtag protests led by libtards who think that terrorists give a shit what they think. Anyway, the girls remain kidnapped. I guess the Hollywood types felt they accomplished something and have moved on to other issues.